Twilight of Lylat
by Link McCloud
Summary: When Krystal crash lands on a planet on the far side of the Milky Way, she meets a human named Link, who she quickly befriends. After Krystal helps Link with his quest, Link comes with Krystal back to Lylat, to aid her in destroying the LTA. Rated T. R


**Disclaimer: You all (should) know the drill. I don't own Star Fox, its Nintendo's. It is not Sony's or Microsoft's (thank God), its Nintendo's.**

**Note: Well, sorry for the wait. I've not been able to write my stories for a while due to the massive amount of school stuff I had to do. This is the same chapter as I posted before, but a little more improved. I'm sorry to say as well that I don't plan to write the second chapter any time soon; I plan to dedicate that time to school (ick...) and The Catastrophe of War (THAT'S what you want, eh, Ark?). This is the same story as "A Vixen's Earth Visit and a Human's Lylat Battle", but the title was changed for a reason that you should know already.**

**Lets see if I made this any better now, shall we?**

Twilight of Lylat

Prologue

"Krystal, there are some gunners to your left."

"I can see them on my own, thanks."

"Fine. Do I need to help you anymore?"

"I don't care. But help Slippy. He needs it."

"HEY!"

Four Arwings were in the midst of hundreds of Lylat Terror Association, or "LTA" gun ships while flying a few thousand miles above the planet Sauria. Each Arwing executed the most difficult of stunts to get out of the targeting systems of the LTA gun ships: from loops to barrel rolls and combining the two, while continuously shooting plasma bursts or smart bombs. The area was brightly illuminated by the large amount of plasma bursts that were being fired, and the intensity of the brightness rivaled that of Corneria City at night. Explosions that had a green tint to them went off every few seconds, indicating that one of the gun ships was destroyed.

The Arwings belong to the famous Star Fox team, who were on Sauria taking a vacation from repairing Lylat after the Aparoid Invasion five years prior. They were relaxing on the beaches of Cape Claw when the LTA invaded the peaceful planet, with approximately four hundred dozen ships ready to attack the dinosaurs, as well as any one on the planet; after Fox McCloud repaired the planet, it became a prime tourist spot in Lylat, and about one third of the planet was now inhabited by citizens of other systems of Lylat. The terrorists started to fire upon the dinosaurs that lived on Sauria; some of the ships even crashed themselves into large groups of the helpless dinos to do the most damage.

The Star Fox team, who started to get fired upon as well, ran over to the Great Fox II, which was resting on Cape Claw near the entrance of the Ocean Force Point Temple. They redoubled their pace to avoid getting killed, and boarded the Great Fox II, heading for their rooms to get their battle suits on to go on the offensive. They then promptly ran over to the hangar to board their Arwings, and flew out of the Great Fox II's hangar exit in a flurry of sand and plasma exhaust; the Great Fox II was left behind, due to the Star Fox team leader's concern of LTA members damaging the new ship.

One certain Arwing did a long, wide left turn, while barrel rolling, and releasing several smart bombs. Sixteen of the twenty four LTA gun ships that were targeting it were destroyed, while the remaining eight were catastrophically damaged, making them incapable to fight any longer. The Arwing then did a hurried U-turn to shoot two ships that were following a different Arwing.

"Thanks Krystal." croaked a frightened voice from the Arwing that had the most damage.

"No problem Slippy." said a soft feminine voice from the first Arwing, while she turned to chase more gun ships.

"Hey, Fox! You got a few on your tail!" yelled an avian from another Arwing.

"WHAT?!" yelled a voice from the last Arwing, which started a barrel roll and it went into a short loop to disrupt the gun ships' targeting systems. However, the gun ships followed him up and around. "I can't get them off of me!" shouted the vulpine pilot, while he boosted and turned ninety degrees downward, still trying to shake his pursuers.

"And you were offering _me_ help Fox..." said the gentle voice from the relatively untouched Arwing. It turned toward the Arwing in danger and shot a cluster bomb towards its teammate. "Here's some advice for _you_: look up."

"Huh?" muttered the vulpine; he turned in his cockpit to see the cluster bomb explode, showering the gun ships and his Arwing in deadly fireballs.

"Ah!" he yelled out; the vulpine put the Arwing into a frantic barrel roll and boosted out of the way. The two gun ships disappeared in the downpour of flame, while the torrent missed the Arwing by a few feet.

"What the hell were you thinking?" shouted Fox, while looking the animal that shot the bomb through his communication screen.

"It was the fastest way to destroy them." replied the pilot of the first Arwing, a cerulean blue-furred vixen. "What else would have worked, if you think that way was irrelevant?"

Fox didn't reply, but dived down to destroy a few more gun ships.

The vixen smiled softly; she loved it when she did that to Fox. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that a gunship was charging a shot, aiming for the Arwing which she just saved. She quickly routed all shields to the front of her Arwing, started a barrel roll, and rammed into the gunship, destroying it.

"Falco? Fox? What's that over there?" asked the toad, pointing with the front tip of his Arwing in the direction of the planet Katina, which looked as big as a quarter from their distance from the planet.

Fox and the avian looked over to where the toad was pointing; the vixen was in the middle of chasing another gunship.

"That's a warp gate exit Slippy." said the avian, with the tone of voice that suggested that Slippy asked a stupid question, and turned to chase another gunship.

"It's nothing to worry about." added Fox as he barely glanced at it and blasted another gunship.

"...Then why is it red?"

Fox and Falco looked back at the gate exit again, with frowns on their faces. The gates they use are normally green.

"I have no idea then Slippy." said Fox as he stared at it; Falco got hit in the side by a passing gunship. With a yell consisting of a few curse words, he chased after it.

"It's a LTA warp gate." came the vixen's voice; she had obliterated the gunship she was chasing. "And the only ship that uses a gate that size is their nuclear weapon ship." and she dived to destroy more gun ships. The others froze.

"Th-the nuke ship?!" stammered Falco as he shot a smart bomb at the gunship that hit him.

"If that thing comes here, then we are doomed for sure." moaned Slippy; his Arwing started to inch backwards slowly, towards Sauria.

"Wait a minute." muttered Krystal. Fox looked down at Krystal's image in his communicator screen; her expression had changed from one of focus and confidence to one of fear, anger and confusion. "No, there is no way he'd be the pilot of that thing..."

"Who? Who is piloting what?" asked Falco.

Just then, each and every one of the remaining gun ships exploded, sending metal and plasma flying every where. Krystal shouted in surprise as she flew into the large field debris, as she was the only one not sitting in place and watching the warp gate; the pieces of flaming metal causing the shields covering her Arwing to disintegrate. One particularly large piece of metal hit the left diffuser engine; it promptly exploded, and Krystal let out another yell of surprise as the explosion rocked her Arwing severely.

"Krystal? You ok?" asked Fox.

"Yes..." replied a shaken Krystal as she observed the damage done to her Arwing. "I've lost an engine though."

"..._That's kind of obvious._.." thought Falco; Krystal shot him a glare.

"Well, well, well. Look who's trying to protect that planet yet again." growled a menacing voice off of the communicators.

All of them looked down at their screens to see who spoke; a growl rumbled deep in Fox's throat.

"Wolf."

Wolf O'Donnell was grinning at them, sitting on his command chair of the Lylat Terror Association Destruction Vessel, or LTADeV. He was wearing the same uniform that he wore during the Apariod Invasion, but his former eye patch now covered the entire left side of his gray and white-furred head, excluding his jaw. The massive ship that he was piloting was a huge version of the Wolfen, with several dozen missile slots, plasma guns, and one huge opening on its back, all indicating several advanced weapon systems, which were clearly more destructive than the Star Fox team's best arsenal of weapons.

"That injury took that much out of your head?" asked a shocked, and savagely scared Slippy; Fox did his best to suppress a laugh. Of all of the questions he could have asked...

Wolf's right eye twitched. "Never have you minded!" he yelled. "If I hadn't gone down into that accursed planet with you pups I would still have my skull in one piece!"

Krystal narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't say anything.

"Since when did you have control of the LTADeV?" asked Falco brutally as he armed his last cluster bomb.

"Since two years ago. The leader of the LTA wanted a new captain for this ship, since the old one fell ill with cancer and died within a few days of his diagnosis. He contacted me back in Sargasso and asked if I would take Kasik's place." said Wolf casually.

"What did you do with the rest of the members of Star Wolf?" chimed in Krystal, with a small hint of fear in her voice. Fox glanced at her image on his communicator. She looked very worried; the vixen must be thinking about Panther. Fox growled inaudibly.

"Oh, they're part of the LTA now...Hm, now that I think about it, I haven't seen them for a few months. I think they're near Fortuna..."

"Enough of that." interrupted Fox. "Why are you here Wolf? If you are here to destroy Sauria, you can forget it."

Wolf laughed. "No, no, no. I'm not here to destroy that pathetic planet." Krystal let out a low hiss. "I'm here to drive you four out of Lylat."

His words met silence, and the only noise that was heard was the loud, low hum of the LTADeV's and Arwing's engines, as well as faint clicking coming from the LTADeV.

"I'd like to see you try." snarled Fox and Krystal at the same time. Falco was just seconds away from charging at the massive red and silver ship, but it seems that what remained of his common sense was holding him back. Slippy's Arwing started to move backwards slowly.

"You want to see me try?" smiled Wolf. "Ok then. FIRE ALL MISSILES!".

"Yes sir!" saluted a cat to Wolf's left. He gave a signal to the weapon personal and the badger pushed several buttons, which opened a small glass case nearby; she punched a large red button that was inside. The massive ship shot dozens upon dozens of missiles at the team.

"Evasive action!" yelled Fox as the missiles flew at an extremely high speed toward them. He boosted straight up, and Slippy did a U-turn and boosted as hard as he could. Falco shot his cluster bomb at a group of missiles, destroying them, but this caused the shrapnel from the destroyed missiles to fly at him, so Falco did a U-turn as well. Krystal was boosting away already.

"Fox!" yelled Krystal as she attempted to get away from the missiles by barrel rolling into a loop, but the heat-seekers just followed her. "Call ROB and tell him to get his metal butt up here!"

Fox didn't reply to her, but he punched a small orange button on the controls.

"Yes?" came ROB's monotone voice.

"ROB! GET UP HERE WITH THE GREAT FOX II! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE ASAP!" yelled Fox as he barrel rolled around a few missiles; one missile hit the side of the spinning Arwing. It got deflected, and blew up when it collided with another missile, which exploded as well.

"Roger." and the robot launched the Great Fox II off of Cape Claw; the advanced engines hardly made a sound when it boosted off of the soft sands of the beach. The surrounding dinosaurs scattered; one Earthwalker yelled "A NUDK KE SEMO!" as the Great Fox II flew towards space; the teenage Earthwalker leaped as high as he could, and his front paws landed on the lower right-hand wing. However, he could not grip it for long, and he plummeted back to the sands below as the Great Fox II flew off into space.

One problem with the location of the Great Fox II was that it was on the other side of the planet, completely opposite of the location of the team. Fox snarled at his possibly fatal mistake.

"_Why didn't we take that thing up here earlier?_" thought Fox angrily as he continued to dodge missiles, several missing by just a few inches.

"You didn't want it damaged remember?" said Krystal gruffly.

Fox just nodded; he didn't bother telling Krystal that she read his thoughts again. He told her not to do that a couple years after the Invasion when she constantly read his thought patterns.

Several minutes passed as Fox, Slippy, Falco, and Krystal dodged, swerved, looped and U-turned to avoid getting it by the missiles, while Wolf watched smugly from the LTADeV. Fox was looping over a group of missiles when the communicator beeped.

"Great Fox II here." came ROB's voice.

Fox looked above him at the dinosaur planet, which was technically below him, as his Arwing was upside down.

There it was, brand new, shining metallic silver, the command ship of his team flying over the top of Sauria. The Great Fox II looked just like the old Great Fox, which was destroyed at the end of the Invasion (Fox has yet to forgive Peppy), but the newer version is twice as big, and it came with many more upgrades such as...

"ROB! Extend the warp field over the Great Fox II so we can get out of here! BUT DON'T GET ANY CLOSER! WE DON'T WANT ONE OF THESE MISSILES HITTING IT! WE'LL COME TO YOU!" shouted Fox as another missile grazed his left wing.

"Affirmative" said ROB, and he halted the Great Fox II. The robot pushed a small blue button on the main controls, causing a pale green energy field to engulf the Great Fox II; the ship seemed to start wavering as if it was underwater.

"Falco, Slippy, Krystal! We gotta go!" yelled Fox as he dove down towards the command ship, five missiles hot on his tail.

Predictably, Slippy was already in the field, orbiting the Great Fox II impatiently and Falco was a few seconds from it, with Krystal a few dozen yards behind him.

A roar came from the LTADeV. "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME FOX!" Wolf signaled fiercely at the cat behind him to start the drive. The cat then yelled to a dog that was sleeping near the controls; the dog subconsciously hit the button that started the warp drive. The massive engines on the back of the LTADeV flared up, and started to move the ship forward slowly, while the engines started to glow steadily brighter.

"Wanna bet?" bluffed Fox. As soon as he entered the warp field, ROB activated the drive. The field then became solid, like a huge metal ball, encasing the Great Fox II and the four Arwings. It started to glow brightly, and it flew away at a blinding speed, leaving Sauria and the LTADeV behind.

"Whew!" sighed Slippy, with an expression of enormous relief. "I'm glad we won't see him for a while." He stopped circling the Great Fox II, and started to hover near the entrance to the hangar. Even though the field was now solid, they could still see out of it as if it were not there; stars, comets and other planets flew by the Great Fox II as it sped past them at 24 A.U. per hour, three times as fast as the original Great Fox. ROB carefully steered the ship so it would not collide with anything.

"Where should we go Fox? I would think that we should get out of his targeting range by as much as possible." informed Krystal. Falco nodded frantically at her words.

"I don't know..." murmured Fox, who was about to suggest sneaking back to Corneria.

"There." said ROB instantly; he had heard Krystal's statement, and started to search as soon as she said 'out of his targeting range'. "A small galaxy named the Milky Way. We should be able to lose him there."

"Good. Are there any planets that we can hide in or near?" asked Fox.

"Well, there are twelve relativity close planets; five terrestrial planets, and seven gas giants." said ROB after scanning the section of the galaxy that was nearest to them. "I would not suggest the gas planets; their atmospheric pressure would crush even the Great Fox II, let alone the Arwings."

"Ok. Head for the terrestrial planets." ordered Fox.

Mere seconds after Fox ordered ROB to steer in the planet's direction, the Great Fox II and the four Arwings around it lurched backwards, and then slowed down rapidly.

"Arrived at destination." said ROB as the pale energy field over them became a film of energy, and disappeared.

"Wow, that was quick!" remarked Falco; he had gotten ready to take a nap.

Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Krystal looked around; Slippy let out a high-pitched scream, because he looked directly at a brilliant shining star behind them, which was no more than a few hundred thousand miles away. The others learned from the toad's mistake and didn't look at that direction. However, they did notice that a small, a gray colored rock planet orbiting the star ahead them. It was completely barren; it looked like one of the moons of Fichina.

"Well, with the heat emitting from this star here, I don't think that there would be any life on that planet." sighed Fox.

"What? We are looking for some type of life form?" asked Falco, who sounded both shocked and confused.

"Yeah! If we can find some kind of life, they could help us out! Then we could get Wolf off of our tails for good!" said Fox as he scanned the area. "There seems to be life on a planet an A.U. and a half away."

"How long will it take us to get there?" yawned Slippy. "I could use a nap."

"Calculating." said ROB as he punched in the numbers. "We will arrive at the planet in an hour and twenty-seven minutes if we keep a constant high speed the entire way there."

"Any one low on fuel?" asked Fox as he prepared his Arwing for the fast paced trip.

"I'm fine." chirped Slippy.

"I have one question." said Falco. "Why can't we just warp there like we just warped from Lylat to here?"

"Not enough capacitor energy." came ROB's response. "The last warp drained the drive's energy. It needs a full three hours to refuel. And plus, I had the impression that you wanted a nap."

Falco had a look on his face as if he wanted to rip ROB apart. "...I'm fine on fuel..." he grumbled.

"My tank is half full." commented Krystal.

"ROB?"

"That is enough fuel. However, I am concerned for Krystal's Arwing. The left diffuser engine is now causing a threat to her entire vessel; the excess fuel leaking out of it is starting to erode the outer casing of her Arwing. If she goes that distance without maintenance or getting in a new Arwing, it will be very vulnerable to attack."

"I'll be fine." said Krystal wearily.

"No, I think you should go in the Great Fox II Krystal, and get that…thing…" Fox didn't finish his sentence because Krystal was looking at him like she wanted to slap him.

"I'll. Be. Fine." she growled each word separately, and fiercely.

Fox dropped his gaze and nodded slowly. Sometimes he could not understand why Krystal was so stubborn.

"Let's go ROB..." he said in a low voice; ROB pushed the throttle, and the Great Fox II moved speedily towards the planet ninety three million miles away. The rest of the team accelerated too, each flying over a separate wing.

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"Hello...That planet looks like Sauria." Krystal's voice blurted out.

Fox jumped. He had gotten used to the quiet hum of the Great Fox II, and had drifted into a much needed nap. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, stretching out his paws that they touched the top of his cockpit, and looked down out of his cockpit. The planet resembled Sauria so much that Fox forgot that they had left it behind in Lylat.

"...Are you sure that isn't Sauria? It looks so much like it." mumbled Fox, who was still trying to wake up. "..._I need to equip this Arwing with a coffee brewer_..." A soft giggle came from Krystal.

"That is not Sauria." croaked Slippy. "Its landmasses are different shapes than those on Sauria, and water covers more of the planet." He crossed his arms and nodded at his words.

"Hahaha...since when have you been so observant?" laughed Falco drowsily, who woke when Slippy spoke.

Slippy didn't reply, though he blushed.

"Well, want to go down there and see if we can get some help?" asked Fox, who was still staring down at the Sauria-like planet.

"NO! ONLY ONE OF YOU IS GOING DOWN THERE, AND THERE WILL BE NO WAY FOR HER TO RETURN!" thundered an angry voice off of the communicators.

"Who said th-" Krystal's question was cut off when a missile squarely hit the side of her Arwing; the incredibly strong glass bent inwards, violently hitting the vixen on the side of the head, knocking her unconscious. The shields of the Arwing were destroyed instantly, and the remainder of the cluster missile bombarded the Arwing. Due to the weakened steel, it was easily dented, and bent out of shape; a piece of the missile hit the last engine, and it exploded. The Arwing started to shake as it tried to stay airborne with the failing engine.

"KRYSTAL!" yelled Fox, and he attempted to boost in her direction, but the Arwing was not responding to the controls. "WHY CAN'T I MOVE?!"

"I don't know Fox! We can't either!" shouted Falco's and Slippy's voice together.

"Enemy approaching." came ROB's extremely late warning.

Fox looked backwards, and he woke up instantly.

"WOLF!" boomed Fox. "LET ME GO!"

"No chance Fox." beamed Wolf. He had followed the warp trail of the Great Fox II, and the G-diffuser particles that trailed behind the Arwings when they boosted towards the planet. Wolf had shot a tractor beam when he was in range of the Great Fox II and the remaining Arwings. The dim blue light was connected to the engines of the Star Fox ships, and because G-diffuser blue plasma exhaust, the beam was unnoticed by anyone. The beam flashed, and the ships started to coast backwards. "You are going to watch that vixen fall to that planet, and you're never going see her again."

"NO!" Fox pushed the boosters forward as hard as they could, but the Arwing continued to be pulled backwards, though it whined and groaned.

Slippy was screaming his head off, making no attempt to get out of the beam. Falco was swearing at the top of his lungs, boosting and barrel rolling, but it was all a waste of energy.

Krystal's Arwing was now struggling to stay stable. It was shacking violently, and small explosions emitted off of the failing engine. Both wings were bent upwards, and the cockpit window had many cracks all over, making it impossible to see the vixen inside.

"KRY-Y-YSTAL...!" sobbed Fox. "WAKE UP! He made a final attempt to get out of the tractor beam, but with his massive push on the throttle, it broke in half. Fox blinked, and looked at the handle in his paw; tears started to well up in his eyes.

A wet gasp came from Slippy. Fox looked up at Krystal's shattered Arwing. With the violent shaking of the ship, several of the loose components of the Arwing started to fly off, which included the remaining diffuser engine. When it was off of the Arwing, it stopped shaking and started to spiral down to the planet, leaving a trail of flaming debris and plasma behind it. When it entered the atmosphere of the planet, it burst into a large fireball, hurtling towards the surface of the planet.

Fox then heard a small, faint moan in the back of his mind. "..._Fox_..."

Fox slowly looked down at his communicator screen. He gasped when he saw that Krystal had one turquoise eye half open, gazing at his image in her communicator screen; the right side of her head was drenched in blood. The view out of her cockpit was horrifying; flames engulfing the Arwing, pieces of the ship braking off, and cracked glass bent into the cockpit. As Fox stared at her, the vixen rose one paw up to lightly touch the communicator screen; the tears in Fox's eyes redoubled.

"I promise Krystal...I will come back and rescue you...but for me to do that...you must stay alive..." whispered Fox. as he touched the image of her paw in his screen.

He could have sworn, through his teary eyes, and through failing communication screen, that he saw Krystal nod her head a fraction of an inch before her paw fell limp, and her eye closed; Fox noticed that part of her uniform had ripped at the thigh and shoulder. When the screen started to fail, the tattoos on her body started to glow, and Fox saw that the blood started to disappear, and the wounds started to heal very quickly; the screen went blank.

Fox's mouth opened slowly, and he started to cry softly as his Arwing, the Great Fox II, and Falco's and Slippy's Arwings were pulled into the hangar below the LTADeV.

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Down on the planet, a small imp-like creature floated out of a cave, roused from her sleep from the sun shining into the cave in which she was sleeping in. Her skin was tinted in gray and black, and glowing, turquoise markings ran the length of her arms and legs. She was wearing a very odd headpiece, which covered up her left eye; her orange hair was tied back into a hand-shaped ponytail. She yawned, stretching her small, black arms towards the sky, then stopped suddenly; something that sounded like a high pitched whistle caught her attention. When she looked up, her right eye, which was colored yellow, red and orange, widened as she saw that something that looked like a fireball falling towards the lake in front of her very rapidly. She flew back into the cave, towards a wolf, who was sleeping soundly on his side.

"Hey! Wake up!" she yelled as she pushed on the wolf's side.

The wolf moaned slightly, but didn't open his eyes. The imp hissed, jumped up and hovered over the wolf's head. She then grabbed his ears, and pulled them backwards. The wolf's sapphire eyes flew open as he let out a yelp, and jumped onto his paws. He shook his head side to side quickly to shake the imp off; she lost her grip, and hit the ground with a soft _thud_.

"Uff...Why did you do that? I was just trying to wake you up!" she said sourly to the wolf, who was glaring at her.

The wolf snorted, and started towards the entrance of the cave. The imp got back up, flew over to him, and dropped onto the wolf's back heavily; the wolf let out another yelp as he felt his spine crack as she landed. He looked back at the imp again, his upper lip curled up into a snarl.

"Now, don't look at me that way." said the imp, crossing her arms. "There's something falling from the sky, and we need to check it out." The wolf's expression lightened up instantly, and he let out an excited bark. His ears flicked as he heard the whistling sound, and he started charging out of the cave, with the imp holding on the side of his neck so she wouldn't fly off of his back again.

**Note: IF you could not tell who those last two characters are, then SHAME ON YOU! **

**I plan (meaning it's not set in stone, no matter how much I want it to be) to update TCW by the end of April. And, like I said, don't plan on any updates on this story for a while; this is like a prologue (duh) of whats to come, like foxbird22's "Sudden Invasion" (it's an excellent prologue chapter by the way; READ IT!) Later!**


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